Education
Since joining the Texas Back Institute in 1996, Zigler has been an international guest lecturer on topics in spinal reconstruction, as well as a Principal Investigator for the ProDisc artificial disc replacement system"s United States. Food and Drug Administration (Food and Drug Administration) clinical studies. On August 14, 2006, the ProDisc-L ("lumbar") Total Disc Replacement was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a treatment for functionally disabling pain from lumbar degenerative disc disease ("Development Department").
Career
He is best known for being the first surgeon to perform a ProDisc artificial disc replacement surgery in the United States, on October 3, 2001. He is a former Clinical Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He served as President of the American Spinal Injury Association from 2003 to 2005.
Zigler"s role as Principal Investigator for the ProDisc, Synthes Spine"s artificial disc replacement system, was to monitor all the clinical ProDisc cases done at the Texas Back Institute, and also to serve as a resource to Synthes on questions about cases done at all of the 19 other investigative sites.
lieutenant was the second device to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration for such a purpose. As a condition of approval, Synthes Spine is required to conduct a five-year study assessing the long-term safety and effectiveness of the disc.
The study will include the 286 patients who participated in the pre-approval clinical trials. The company is also required to complete an annual analysis and report any major adverse events (such as implant breakage, subsidence or expulsion from the disc space).
These conditions are similar to those imposed on the Charite artificial disc.
Zigler is himself responsible for publication of the national data now that the ProDisc-L has been Food and Drug Administration-approved. More recently, questions about ethics of surgeon investigators in the Pro Disc study have been raised, specifically in a New York Times article about conflicts of interest related to his Zigler"s financial ties, in which it is reported that he invested $25,000 in the company. Since the time of these articles, there has been no substantiation to support the New York Times" allegations, and a follow-up Food and Drug Administration audit of Zigler"s ProDisc site prompted by these allegations turned up no evidence of any wrongdoing.
Zigler has appeared as a guest expert on Orange County News network in Orange County, California, as well as Good Morning Texas, a morning show produced by the American Broadcasting Company affiliate WFAA-television in Dallas, Texas.
He has been consulted numerous times regarding the spinal injuries of such high-profile celebrities as Christopher Reeve and Jason Priestley. Zigler has also been a subject in a New York Times article that raises questions about the ethics of his role as both Pro Disc Investigator as an investor in the company that manufactured the Pro Disc implant.
Quoted in United States of America Today article when actor Jason Priestley received injuries in a race-car accident
Quoted in Cnn.com article on actor Christopher Reeve"s spinal cord injury
Quoted in Orthopedic Technical Review"s Industry News section about Christopher Reeve"s condition
Recognized in the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis" newsletter, delivering an honor as ASIA President to a fellow scientist, Damien Pearse, Doctor of Philosophy
Quoted on Raleigh-Durham American Broadcasting Company affiliate"s website discussing nonfusion surgical devices.
